Arabian Swordsman
The Arabian swordsman is an Arabian heavy melee unit and their main melee force. Manual description "These units are not as well armored as their European counterparts but they are a little quicker." Overview Arabian Swordsmen are recruited from the Mercenary Post for 80 gold each. They are similar to their European counterparts, being an effective melee troop both in offensive and defensive tasks. They are faster than swordsman, but less armoured and weaker. They possess good resistance to archer fire (75 arrows required to kill them) and average resistance to crossbow fire (3 to 4 bolts required to kill them). Appearance Arabian swordsmen are large in size, towering over most other infantry. They carry a thick edged scimitar, and a round shield. They seem to have body armour of both metal and leather protection, which would explain their resistance of arrows, but weakness to crossbow bolts. Arabian swordsmen are most often used because of their ease to create (requiring no weapons) and their good strength. In many instances a player might hire a group of these to defend his or her Lord as a last means of defense. Tactics Stronghold Crusader For the final stand, a player might hire a group of arabian swordsmen to protect his or her Lord from the remaining attacking force charging the Keep. It is interesting to note too, that assassins are actually more effective against European swordsmen. Depending on the opposing troops, you may hire a combination of assassin and Arabian swordsmen to hold them off, while slingers (acting as cheaper, weaker crossbowmen) and fire throwers wreak more havoc. Best used in large numbers, when attacking clear the enemy walls of archers first, then move them forward, try not to get them caught up in a fight especially against troops with metal armor because they can't beat European swordsmen or knights but still pose a threat to them. They are very good in defense and should be placed atop walls in case of siege towers as they can hold back an enemy quite well especially if bunched up. Arabian swordsmen are a good source of defensive strength but are quite expensive at 80 gold each. They are also good attackers and because of how early you can get them, very good early rush option if gold is plenty. For some reason, they tend to be the slowest to destroy buildings as the building health takes a while to drop from the beginning of the attack which could either be a glitch or purposely put. Stronghold Crusader 2 Category:Stronghold Crusader Soldiers In Stronghold Crusader 2, Arabian swordsmen are buffed. This time, their health is only very slightly weaker than its European counterpart, while remaining faster on foot and receiving a decrease in price as well, costing only 60, while normal swordsmen cost 40. This makes Arabian swordsmen a relatively better choice, especially due to the fact how easily they are created and their price means they can be amassed even more so than in the first game. Most of their statistics are identical to European swordsman, with only slightly lower health. Weaknesses Stronghold Crusader While still bulky, they die much faster than regular swordsmen to Crossbowmen and Fire ballista. This effectively makes most Arabian lords weaker in terms of attacking than European lords such as Richard the Lionheart as defending against massive attacks is much simpler, needing less defense to kill higher numbers of the Arabian Swordsmen unit. They are also rather ineffective against stopping large Horse Archer raids, as they are not as equipped as their European counterparts or Pikemen to stall advancement while under heavy fire.